Political Quotes

“Just to conclude, I wish to thank both of my colleagues. They have been great partners on this issue and many others. We have tried to be good partners with the Federal Government. We are proud of the Savannah River site and all that has been accomplished over the last 50 years. Now we are moving into a new phase of trying to get rid of Cold War materials--34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium here, and in Russia, 60 percent completion of the MOX program. As to the $2 billion overrun, that is not lost upon me as being a lot of money. That is a lot of money. But what I am telling my fellow Members of the body, and the country as a whole, there is no way we can find an alternative to MOX cheaper than that $2 billion. It is just not possible. We have been studying this forever, and in the agreement itself with the Russians, it specifically says MOX, and it prohibits us as a nation from burying the plutonium. So this is the way forward. I promise the Members of the body and the administration we will lower the cost overruns, I promise. This is a complicated scientific endeavor, but we will lower the cost overruns. What we will not do is stop the program when it is 60 percent complete and study an alternative that has no possibility of coming about scientifically and could never lower costs and interrupt the disposition of this weapons-grade plutonium and breach the agreement with the Russians. We will not be a party to that. We will keep talking. As to Mr.…”